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Special Report: Lebanon launches new campaign to combat violence against refugee women

Source:

Henriette Johansen, Middle East Monitor (MEMO)

Summary

The number of refugees in Lebanon has now reached 25 per cent of the total population. 78 per cent of the ever-increasing number are Syrian refugees, who currently number around 824,000, are women and children. 79,000 refugees coming from Syria are still awaiting registration at the borders. According to a recent report from Human Rights Watch (HRW), the most vulnerable are “disproportionately affected by Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV)”. A growing attitude amongst female refugees to return to the war-torn country they only just fled has been detected, as rape and sexual harassment has made life in Lebanon unbearable. (Beirut, 4rd Dec, 2013)

In a comment to MEMO, UNHCR confirmed that they had recorded 500 cases of SGBV being reported, and that this is only “the tip of the iceberg, due to the social stigma and personal security risks faced by women in a situation that is exacerbated by conflict, displacement, poor living conditions and other factors.”

It is in this regard that the Lebanese organisation KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation, along with the Lebanese Internal Security

Forces, launched the 16 Day Campaign to End Violence against Women, which started on the International Day to End Violence

against Women, 25th November, and will end on 10th December, the International Day for Human Rights.

You can read more about this novel partnership and its endeavours in the short report by MEMO, which you can find here.